This is an international dish that people like to cook in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Greece. In each country, dolma is prepared according to special customs and recipes.
According to the method of preparation, it resembles cabbage rolls, but the filling is wrapped in young and soft leaves of grapes, and not in cabbage leaves.
You can use both fresh and harvested pickled leaves.
Traditional dolma filling consists of rice cereals and meat. This dish is perfect for serving at the festive table.
Dolma in grape leaves - general principles of preparation
For the preparation of classic dolma, two types of grape leaves are used - ag shans and kara shans. They fit both fresh and rolled up for the winter. Rinse the leaves preferably with boiled water.
Meat is used any: beef, lamb or pork. For a more delicate taste, you can combine two types at once.
There should not be a lot of rice in dolma, otherwise the taste of the dish will be spoiled. Rice itself is desirable to use round grain.
One of the essential ingredients of the dish is the smell. If you wish, you can replace it with lentils.
Before cooking dolma, the bottom of the pan should be covered with grape leaves so that the dish does not burn.
Wrap “dolmishki” can be diced or tube. In the pot you need to lay them evenly. Water poured two fingers below.
In the Caucasus, dolma is served with kadyk mixed with garlic. This dairy product can be replaced with sour cream.
Dolma in grape leaves - a classic recipe
Ingredients:
• 480 g minced lamb;
• 350 g of fresh young grape leaves;
• half a cup of rice cereal;
• one bulb onion;
• one bunch of green onions;
• 40 g of flour;
• 130 g sour cream;
• 70 g of tomato paste;
• glass of water;
• salt;
• ground black pepper.
Cooking:
1. Rinse the leaves of the vine, cut off the coarse parts and dry the leaves in the air or dry them with a towel. 2. Onions clean, rinse and chop.
3. Rice to sort out if necessary, rinse and cook until half cooked, cool.
4. Mix the minced meat with onions, rice, season with salt and pepper, ground.
5. Stuff the prepared grape leaves. To do this, lay the sheet on a table or cutting board, put a little stuffing on the top of the sheet, wrap the top of the sheet, then the right and left side to the center and roll down.
6. Fold the whole dolma tightly together in a saucepan, pour a mixture of water, sour cream and tomato paste, simmer for about an hour and a half until cooked.
7. Prepare the sauce. To do this, fry the flour a little in a dry frying pan to obtain a brownish hue, mix with the sauce remaining from the stewing and pour this mixture over the dolma prepared for serving.
Dolma in grape leaves with vegetables
Ingredients:
• 450 g of lamb;
• 90 g kurdyum;
• 380 g fresh grape leaves;
• two bows;
• three red tomatoes;
• two eggplants;
• one hot pepper;
• two Bulgarian peppers;
• 60 g butter;
• dolma;
• salt;
• Pinch of ground pepper.
Cooking:
1. Peel and wash onions.
2. Mutton, kurdyum and onions chop in a meat grinder.
3. Wash grape leaves well and cut from rough areas.
4. Mince the meat in a frying pan and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, softened butter and ground pepper. Stir and leave to cool.
5. Wash and peel the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Pepper seeds and stalk. Peeled eggplants are placed in a container with salted water to remove excess bitterness, then squeeze and dry a little, laying on a paper towel.
6. Dice vegetables and stew until half cooked.
7. Mix the stuffing with vegetables, fill them with grape leaves.
8. Put the resulting dolma in two layers in a saucepan or stew-pan. Pour water there (1-2 cm above the level of dolma) and simmer a little over an hour.
Dolma in grape leaves with fish
Ingredients:
• fresh or salted grape leaves; • 30 grams of rice cereal;
• 300 g fish fillet;
• vegetable oil;
• one bow;
• 3-4 Art. l lemon juice;
• 1 tbsp. l tomato paste;
• 200 g of water;
• salt;
• ground white pepper.
Cooking:
1. To process the leaves of grapes. To do this, cut off their rough streaks and twig. If the leaves are salty, you must first soak them in water.
2. Chop the fish fillet with a knife into small pieces or chop with a meat grinder.
3. Peel and finely chop the onion, fry with the addition of vegetable oil.
4. Wash rice and boil until half ready.
5. Mix shredded fish, onions and rice. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
6. Spread the minced meat on the leaves of the grapes and spin them. It should make something like cabbage rolls.
7. Fold the fish dolma into a saucepan, pour a mixture of water and tomato paste. Simmer on moderate heat for 35-45 minutes.
Dolma in grape leaves vegetarian
Ingredients:
• two chicken eggs;
• fresh young grape leaves;
• four onions;
• 150 grams of round rice;
• one bunch of green onions;
• one bunch of dill;
• 180 g of sorrel or spinach fresh;
• one sprig of cilantro and mint;
• 100 g of kefir;
• a glass of water or vegetable broth;
• vegetable oil;
• a pair of garlic cloves;
• salt;
• ground pepper.
Cooking:
1. To carry out processing of greens. Wash and clean grape leaves from rough areas. Soak green onion, dill, sorrel, cilantro and mint in a container with cool water, rinse and dry a little on a paper towel. Then chop the dried herbs in a blender in a mush.
2. Wash rice and boil a little.
3. Finely chop the onion.
4. Boil eggs, peel and chop finely.
5. Stir the cooked ingredients. Add a little vegetable oil, salt and pepper.
6. Stuff the grape leaves with the prepared egg-vegetable mixture, roll in the form of small envelopes. If the leaves are harsh, you can pre-scald them with boiling water and cool slightly.
7. Put dolma in a saucepan or a wide saucepan, add broth or water and simmer until cooked on moderate heat. 8. Prepare the sauce. To do this, peel and chop garlic in mush and mix it with kefir and season with salt.
9. When serving dolma pour kefir sauce.
Dolma in grape leaves from beef
Ingredients:
• grape leaves;
• 600 g of beef (neck);
• 60 grams of rice cereal;
• one carrot;
• one onion;
• a couple of celery stalks;
• a pair of parsley sprigs;
• 60 g butter;
• any vegetable oil;
• glass of water;
• salt;
• ground pepper;
• thick bioyoghurt without additives.
Cooking:
1. Wash rice groats and soak for a couple of hours in cool water.
2. Rinse the leaves of grapes, clean out of rough areas and streaks, scald with boiling water and cool. If you use pickled leaves, rinse them in cold water.
3. Wash the meat, dry it and cut into small arbitrary pieces.
4. Peel the onion, wash and chop it into large pieces.
5. Grind meat and onions with a meat grinder.
6. Wash the parsley and finely chop with a knife and add to the minced meat.
7. Separate the rice from the water using a sieve.
8. Peel the carrots, rinse and grate.
9. Wash celery, peel and cut into small cubes.
10. Celery and carrots combine and slightly fry in butter.
11. In the stuffing put rice, salt, pepper, celery with carrots. Mix everything thoroughly.
12. Stuff the grape leaves, put in a saucepan, add water, simmer for about an hour.
13. Before serving dolma pour yogurt.
Dolma in grape leaves with pine nuts and currants
Ingredients:
• 440 g of canned grape leaves;
• ten onions;
• 350 grams of rice cereal;
• 70 g of parsley;
• 100 g olive oil;
• 40 g of cedar nuts;
• 50 g dried blackcurrant;
• 12 g dried mint;
• four peas allspice;
• pinch of black pepper;
• pinch of cinnamon;
• pinch of sugar;
• lemon juice;
• salt.
Cooking:
1. To carry out the processing of products. Soak grape leaves in water for 12-15 minutes, dry. Peel and wash onions. Wash rice. Rinse the parsley and chop finely. 2. Finely chop the onion, put it in a frying pan or stew-pan, sauté in olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Add cedar nuts, sauté a few minutes. Add rice Stew until transparent rice.
3. Then add all the spices and parsley provided in the list of ingredients to the pan. Mix. Add 80-90 g of boiling water and simmer with the lid closed over moderate heat until the rice swells. After that, put everything in a plate and cool at room temperature.
4. The filling prepared in this way is used for stuffing grape leaves.
5. Put dolma in a wide saucepan, add lemon juice, a little olive oil and pour boiling water over it so that the water completely covers the whole dolma and is 1-2 cm higher than it.
6. Stew for about an hour.
Dolma in grape leaves - tricks and useful tips
• If you do not find grape leaves, you can replace them with quince or fig leaves.
• Dolma will be very tasty if Bulgarian pepper or tomato is added to the filling.
• To give the dish flavor, be sure to put greens (cilantro or dill) in dolma. It is advisable to cut them large.
• Pepper, adava and mint will be good ingredients when cooking dolma in grape leaves. They will help to further reveal the taste of the dish.
• If the stuffing is not going to cutlet, then add an egg to it.
• If the filling is dry, add ghee to it.
